When you walk outside your front door, what do you see, and do you enjoy the sight?

My view is so-so. My neighbor across the street keeps her house and yard neat, so that’s not a problem. But I’m usually distracted by the weeding that I need to do, and irritated by the sinking walkway that needs to be replaced (although the last two months have been lovely as the jasmine the frames my entry has been in bloom and smells heavenly)..

Since my front door and my door to the deck are the same, can I count that?

If not, I can send you a photo of the garage? That is where the door everyone uses debouches into.

My view is normal. It’s a quiet area. I see the street, and another that branches off right in front of my building into a loop behind some other buildings. Nothing extraordinary, but it’s nice enough. Do I like it? Sure. Except in the morning. I hate mornings, and morning views piss me off.

I live in an apartment complex that is in a rectangular shape. In the middle are palm trees, grass, nice sidewalks, and the pool in the center. It’s a nice day, so it’s all nice.

Outside my front door is my front porch which is covered with unpainted mahogony. I love the look of dark, natural wood. The view is framed by the porch roof, and I can see my topiary, which reflects years of effort and then my sidewalk, any cars parked there, and my neighbors’ houses across the street.

It’s a Victorian era neighborhood, with all the houses being constructed in the 1990s. Mine was built in 1896, and I was living in it during it’s 100th anniversary. The houses across the street are mirror images of mine, only in different colors and with different kinds of flowers and bushes lining the sidewalk. The gardens are about ten feet deep and run the length of the houses. They are twins, so they share front steps.

There is a lot of greenery—trees of many different ages, grass, flowers, bushes, etc. Everybody has a porch. Some are more shaded by greenery than others. There are fruit trees and ornamental trees.

In the road in front of my house is a dip where some contractor did not tamp down the ground well enough before paving over a ditch. As a result, when people drive by too fast, as far too many people do, you hear them bottoming out. I kind of laugh to myself when this happens. Bad springs. Old cars. Careless drivers. I suppose they might knock off their mufflers if they aren’t careful. Cause themselves repairs that they won’t make because they aren’t employed or something. Which means I’ll have to suffer at the noise pollution. Joke’s on me, I guess.

I know that under the street, invisible things are happening that will affect me soon. The tree’s roots are growing along those underground sewer lines the city dug up a few years ago. Eventually they will find a seam or a crack and grow into the pipe and clog things up and I’ll get sewage backing up into my house. The other thing that will happen is that the rats will run along the sewers until they find those holes, and perhaps they will come out into my basement. I hope not. We’ve just spent several thousand dollars rat-proofing the basement. But I doubt it will work.

If I look up, I will see the tops of the trees in my yard and my neighbors. I have a silver maple. It dropped multitudinous helicopters this year, and they somehow managed to find their way into my back yard and I have to pull a new little tree several times a day from my lawn and my gardens.

The helicopters have fallen now, and the tree, which was thinned and trimmed this winter, is very green and hopefully as tall as it is going to get. When it rains, the branches come down low enough that you could get dunked if you are unwise enough not to duck beneath them. I see the little place in the roots where I placed a stone the size of my hand fifteen or so years ago. The roots have almost entirely enclosed the stone now. It’s something I have to think about if and when I ever do take the tree down and I try to make a table out of the stump and the roots, turned upside down. It would be far too heavy of course, but it would be oh so cool!

I could go on, but I won’t. Every step I take shows me more territory I know intimately because I have examined it all from a few inches away as I weed or plant or sweep or shovel the snow. I know all the bumps where the tree is pushing the sidewalk up. The water no longer runs away from the house because of that. Our basement leaks because of that. Everything affects everything else, and despite all I know from living there more than twenty years, I’m sure I don’t know one quarter of it!

I have a park across the street, I usually enjoy the view.

First off, it is called an “airlock” and second, I do not do that.

I do not like the view out my front door. We live in an apartment complex so right out my front door is a landing with three other doors. Down the stairs and out the front door of the building is the parking lot. Nor very prepossessing.

Here’s one view.

And here’s the view of the front door from the view itself: the peonies are now filling the peony hoops and are in full bloom

View out back door.

View of back door.

@gailcalled Milo has some sweet digs. Is that Monarda at the end of the walkway? It’s one of my favorites.

I see our driveway and yard, which could use some work. Past that it’s all trees, which I enjoy a lot!

We live in a cul-de-sac, so I see the adjacent houses of our lovely neighbours & trees, lots & lots of trees, which is nice.

My view directly outside my front door an enclosed porch with a rock wall and a fireplace, a couple of comfortable chairs, a loveseat, an ottoman and a bar with bar stools. Down a few steps and looking straight out the sliding screens is a beautiful little private park inside our cul-de-sac. My brother-in-law and his wife just bought the house directly across the street. He calls the park the secret garden. Their house is about 100 feet from my yard, yet because of the park I can’t see their house. There are a few palm trees and about five different varieties of hedges that run into each other as a continuous hedge and around the paver stone walkway. There are always dozens of birds and squirrels and recenly, a fox. She must have kittens somewhere because she is, much to my delight, killing the squirrels.

I love the feel of my little neighborhood. It is very, very quiet and all of the neighbors know each other and take the time to stand and chat or come in for a visit out of the heat. Very laidback and everyone has beautiful landscaping full of trees and flowering plants.

Our latest rental sits on the street rather than being part of a cul de sac so that right there, I’m not crazy about because it feels so open even though there’s barely any cars coming by. In addition, the front yard has zero attention from the property owner aside from a poor attempt at a mound and a spare sprinkling of decorative gravel. We call it “the burial mound”, for now.

With any luck, we’ll be able to get our property owner to spring for planting a tree and adding some more gravel.

We rent the third floor of a village house. The separate entrance means that our front door (i.e. the one connecting to our stairs) opens up into an alleyway between houses. There really isn’t a view, and it feels a bit dingy. So, no, I don’t particularly like it. I don’t like the fact that it’s concrete and I have to dodge dripping air conditioners into the alleyway.

Meanwhile though, we have a rooftop to ourselves, which for Hong Kong, is pretty nice :)
And enough greenery.

The first thing I see when I walk out of my main entrance is a brick wall and the very top of the house next door which is the other side of that wall. It’s not the most picturesque of views but I don’t consider it an eye sore.

@Jeruba when you describe your neighborhood, you are describing mine as well, down to the proximity to downtown. Looking out my front door I see two beautiful, healthy and mature trees which I thoroughly enjoy. Beyond that is the street and the other 1950’s houses in our neighborhood, that part I can take or leave. The one thing about the view out my front door is that it isn’t all that different from the view I had growing up (even though it is 1500 miles east). That part makes it feel like home.

I see a field with some green crop in it, and past that is a little woods.

It’s a nice view.

At my dad’s house, where I usually am, I see other peoples’ houses and yards and some pretty trees. I live in a pretty quiet neighborhood, and I like it.

At my mom’s house, I see a busy street with lots of cars, and the house of the sex offender that lives right across the street. I don’t dislike it, but there certainly is a contrast between the two views.

I live in a condo “community”. Most of the people are older than me, a few younger. I see lots of people walking dogs and pushing toddlers in strollers or wagons or what ever. I like (most) people. Looks good to me.

The ugly house across the street, and it’s not that enjoyable.

From my front door I step out onto my deck which is painted white on the bottom with dark railing and has 4 steps down to my patio where I have a hot tub surrounded by big urns of exotic grasses, weeping blue spruce and bamboos. On my deck I have Zebra grasses, more bamboos in pots and a huge ceramic water feature on a wrought iron pedestal with reeds and other water plants.
From my deck I am looking out over raw wooded acreage on a hillside above a seasonal creek with a giant oak tree that fell over the creek a few years ago forming a natural bridge.
There is another huge oak tree on an angle that leans over the creek and it is a magical tree, giant and gnarly and probably well over 300 years old.

To the right of my deck is my big oak studded pasture with more monolithic oaks and below me I often have my neigh-bors horses and mules milling around.I love it when they gallop up the creek bed at dusk, the thundering herd on their way back to the barn.
On the other side of my deck and patio is my driveway bordered by the neighbors big pasture and I have a view of their sheep. I love my little house in the woods. :-)

It depends on where I’m parked.

Outside my front door I see many trees, mostly cedar, grass and then about 150 feet in the distance a small two lane road. Beyond that is path and another community. I like my front yard, especially when the deer are there walking around, but my backyard is definitely more serene. I feel almost instant tranquility when I look out back.

I actually would prefer to live somewhere that my front yard had people walking by not many steps from my front door, and that by stepping outside I would easily run into neighbors or sit in front and be social with those who walk by.

The house in Memphis has a front view of a grassy front yard, the street, and the two-story house on the other side. All of the houses are brick in this neighborhood, and they all look fairly similar. Nothing exciting.

The house in England, however, has a very interesting view IMO. Directly across the street is a quaint pub with a quirky name. Next to it, and running down the side of the street is a row of terraced houses. The houses sport clay chimney pots in various shapes. Occasionally, someone’s peacock flies up and perches on top of one of the roofs. At the end of this short row of terraced houses is a little shop run by the couple who live above it.

The SO and I enjoy watching the neighborhood regulars walk up to the pub to have a pint with their mates. One of the neighbors used to stop and rap on the pub’s kitchen window before picking up the owner’s dog to take it for a walk. Maybe he was rewarded with a free beer. This is pure romantic speculation on my part.

On the opposite side of the pub and across another street is a beautiful field of green. It is owned by a farmer who has a large flock of sheep. From the front of our house, we watch the sheep frolicking in the field once it starts to warm up.

The base of this field’s enclosure is is a dry stone wall (meaning no concrete to hold the stones together) that was built by the Romans when they occupied England. There is something magical about touching these stones and wondering about the people who were tasked with building it so many years ago.

All I can see is trees and green. If I look at the valley about 7 miles away I see one house on the side of the hill. I have a big ridge on the right that runs down into the river valley below me. It’s completely covered with trees. Same with the ridge on my left. I love it.

First I see a muted-red porch. Then I see twin juniper trees framing both my multicultural lawn, and my red-brick walkway.

The first thing I see is the garage of the family across the street. The door is nearly always at least half open, and often open all the way. The garage is packed solid with junk, and nothing is neat or organized. I just hope their main house is not the same. I don’t like the view, but I don’t pay it much attention (at least until now).

The view from my upstairs toilet.

@All; More photographs and less verbiage, please.

@gailcalled Nice view. I was kinda hoping to see a toilet though.

^^You wish.

Oh yeah? Well I’ll just imagine it, then.

too jealous of @gailcalled to answer I only have the beach and ocean, which I love….

@laurenkem On behalf of the rest of the collective: Bite us. :)

@Adirondackwannabe I was simply saying that because of her lush gardens, green plants and places where all critters can roam. I do not have those lush gardens because of the general difference in where we live. Critters? Check. Banana Trees? Check. I just meant that I admire and covet her outdoor life where she lives.

Is it bad that I live on the ocean? Please explain. My comment was in no way meant to downgrade what she has – I was admiring it!

@laurenkem Sorry. You’re a fairly new jelly. I’m a tease and I play a little rough. I was completely kidding. Feel completely free to let me have it anytime. I liked your answer.

@laurenkem

It’s just that @Adirondackwannabe is jealous of anyone who gets to live a Jim Rockford type of life. ;-)

@laurenkem: Now that you have his unambiguous permission, feel free to call @Adirondackwannabe an idiot whenever he acts like one.

I took your remarks as compliments, because they were. It is really lovely here and particularly lush this month due to warm winter and lots of rain. And I am lucky to live in an area where almost everyone owns a lot of land. I have 20 acres and my immediate neighbors have 16, 35 and 50 acres; it really feels like pasture land with some woods, rivers and many ponds.

At the little local library last week, I spotted a bald eagle sitting at the top of a very old oak tree, looking for its next meal.

If you look hard, you can just see my neighbor to the north. Here

Jeez guys, You going to seriously kick my ass or what?

If the shoe fits…

Whoa, rough crowd.

@laurenkem For most people in the US, saying that you only have the ocean and the beach is rubbing other people’s noses in your good fortune. Everyone, it seems, wishes they could live on the beach. That you actually do means you would be fabulously wealthy if you lived in the US, since only rich people can afford beach places. So I think that’s what @Adirondackwannabe‘s little wry comment was about. At least, that’s what it meant to me.

@gailcalled‘s place looks nice in another way. And I’m sure many people would be jealous of her spread, as well. People like having a lot of land and a lot of space and beautiful scenery.

I live in a city where the houses are piled one on top of the other. My neighbor’s house on one side shares a wall with mine. On the other side, it is a matter of ten feet. We can look right into each other’s kitchens, if she didn’t put up an opaque curtain.

As far as as @gailcalled‘s call for more pictures, I want to say that I took this question as a chance to paint a picture with words. I thought we’d get lots of little essays with descriptions, and I like that idea. Pictures seem like cheating to me. They belong in a different question. One of the ironies of life, it seems to me, is that Gail is a word person who likes few words. The more penurious one is with words, the better she seems to like you. I, of course, would be stuck deep in her tenth dungeon of hell, if she were to hand out punishments for heinous literary crimes.

@wundayatta Thanks, that was how it was meant.
Guys I don’t take anything that serious unless someone is reaching out for help when they really need it.

Quoting a well-known flutherer in March, 2009, “How can I stop writing such long answers?”

Source

49 useful replies (two from @wundayatta himself).

POV’s of other famous writers.

Cicero said it best; “If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter.”

My door opens into a breezeway sort of area. I like it because the door does not face the street, I never get wet, and the mail is delivered right to the door. I don’t need a view from the door because the LR has a ten foot window facing the street. So yeah, I like things the way they are here.

The view out my front door is quite a mixed bag of love and hate. First off is a covered porch. It’s deep, runs the width of the house, has fantastic Arts and Crafts tapered columns, and is a lovely thing to have, but it needs some work. The green outdoor carpeting that covers the wood floor has got to go! What were the previous owners thinking? Then, a set of semi-circular brick stairs, which I’d love if it weren’t for the fact that a whole row broke off during massive snow storms a couple of years back. The bricks have been replaced badly, and one is still missing. Then a brick walkway laid in a herringbone pattern. Grasses and moss grow in the mortar joints, and I love it. My front yard is maybe 8 feet deep, with grass and some foundation shrubs. Beyond the yard is a terribly uneven concrete sidewalk, which you could kill yourself on if you’re not careful. Then a very busy road, the main road through our town. I hate that! Directly across the street is a charming whit cottage with a curved gable roof like this one (what is that called, anyway?). I love the house, but, as @mangeons points out, a registered sex offender lives there. All in all, I think I’d rather live in the woods. Any room for me up there, @gailcalled?

@wundayatta I liked your word picture. :)

Thanks, @augustlan :-)

@wundayatta In fact, I do live in the USA, and I am by no means wealthy, not even upper middle class! If anything, I’m middle class, and truthfully, it’s actually cheaper to live where I do than the places that my relatives live up north. I own my condo, but you can actually rent a beachside condo down here (fully furnished to boot!) for around $800—$1000/month. And that usually includes your cable, your home telephone, water, etc. The only thing not covered is usually electricity and that run around $100/month during the summer. Jus’ sayin’

@laurenkem What state are you in, out of curiosity? I was in Miami a few months ago, and the hotels were outrageously expensive! Even the ones that weren’t on the beach were incredibly costly. It is hard to imagine condos being that cheap and having a decent view of the ocean, but maybe the economics are not what I think, and builders can make money on more middle income type places.

I’ve priced any number of shore rentals and I have never rented on the shore. I just can’t afford it. At least, not the kind of place my family would be comfortable staying in. The places I might be able to afford, if there are any, really look like student places, where the kids live six to a room. It’s nuts! I look at places on the Jersey shore, the Delaware shore and in Cape Cod and Martha’s Vineyard. Like I say, I don’t stay on the ocean. When we go, we’re usually several blocks away.

You can get a condo-tel on the Gulf Coast of Florida pretty cheap, @wundayatta. Beautiful places and beautiful beaches.

@bkcunningham I would try it for a week. Who knows? I might like it.

A few years ago, we had rented a house in the Keys with a private island. We were coming from North Carolina and going to meet friends who lived in Orlando, FL. A hurricane blew in and they evacuated the Keys and cancelling our rental. We ended up going, without any plans, to a place called South Beach Hotel/Condos at Treasure Island. We got a deal that was like stay three days and get the fourth half price and the fifth free. I don’t remember, but it was unbelievable cheap. The place was completely furnished, had granite countertops, a washer/dryer and a balcony overlooking the Gulf.

The entire area of the Gulf is really beautiful and affordable.

It’s a typical British town street, somewhere between urban and suburban. The view has improved since the neighbour across the road got rid of the big van that was almost always parked outside his house.

This evening I saw a politician, and I did not enjoy the sight. Especially when his robo call came in as he was talking to me.

No way, @WestRiverrat. Really?

@wundayatta I am in FL as well – a little town 3.5 miles north of Daytona Beach called Ormond By the Sea. There is Ormond Beach, as well, but that’s inland. The population here is verrrry small, the crime is verrrrrry small and it’s safe. I don’t lock my car, and half the time, I don’t even lock the door on my condo! I love it, and when I drive down A1A, I have people I know honking and waving at me. It’s got a kind of old-time feel to it where everyone knows everyone else.

That being said, do we have our problems? You betcha! The economy isn’t great, and it’s not easy to find a good-paying job nearby. And I believe the majority of our population is probably senior citizens, but hey, they’re the best neighbors in the world! All in all, I wake up most of the time feeling like I’m truly living in paradise and it’s very affordable.

I know where Ormond By the Sea is, @laurenkem. Very beautiful place. My brother use to live in Ormond Beach, which is an ocean city. I’d forgotten about that location. I use to live south of you in a little place called Wilbur By The Sea. Just north of Ponce Inlet on A1A.

@bkcunningham Both truly beautiful places – Ponce Inlet is a little pricey for my pocketbook, though :)

Would love to live there